Everyone present was shocked when they heard the contents of the imperial edict. To know that they could escape from their prisoner status at the border was truly a ray of hope. Even if they had not escaped from their prisoner status, it would still cost a huge sum of money to redeem themselves, especially after they had been exploited by the officials, they had very little money left. It would have been great if they could be like the Tong family.

The officers present couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief at the same time. Fortunately, Lord Chen had warned them not to cause trouble for the Tong family when he came. Otherwise, they would be hated by the Tong family for this trip.

Officer Zheng couldn't help but feel apprehensive. He had assaulted and scolded the Tong family on his way to exile. Would they let him go? Thinking of this, he stepped forward to congratulate Tong Hong. "Master Hong, congratulations on being freed from slavery." Tong Hong looked uneasy and spoke in a cold voice, "Officer Zheng, I'm no longer a master. Don't give others any leverage."

Officer Zheng looked embarrassed and apologized hastily, "I'm sorry for being rude."

Mother Cui quietly approached Mother Qian and whispered, "Look, everyone is being nice to us now." Mother Qian didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but thinking of her temper, she let her be.

Tong Bo found Tong Wen Yao and whispered in her ear, "My aunt told me that I only have 160 silver coins. Now that the weather is getting cold, it will probably snow soon. Everyone should prepare cotton clothes. I think someone will take us to the town to settle down."

She lowered her head in thought, and realized that there were still some grapes in the space. She could sell those grapes. After all, it was cold and there were few fresh fruits here. Maybe she could make some money.

Tong Bo saw her brows relax for a moment, then frown again, and couldn't help but ask. "Don't worry, sister, I can copy the books. When the time comes, I can go hunting with you."

Tong Wenyao shook her head and said, "Now is not the time."

Tong Bo asked in confusion, "Since the emperor has pardoned us, why did he do this after we were exiled?" Tong Wen Yao felt that if she had not read the novel, she would definitely not know what the emperor meant, but she could not say it now.

Tong Wenyao saw the two of them whispering and approached quietly. He heard his sister say, "Second brother, His Majesty must have his reasons for doing this. We will understand in due time."

"Second brother, the emperor's move of exiling us to the frontier is no different from sending fish into the water!" When Tong Bo heard this, an idea flashed in his mind, but he couldn't grasp it. It seemed that he understood the emperor's intention, but he couldn't see through the emperor.

Tong Wenyao, however, felt that her brother had a peculiar mind, always seeing through the essence of things unexpectedly. No wonder he later became a general. Seeing that her second brother was still pondering, she couldn't help but say, "Second brother, since the emperor is willing to protect us, if he needs us in the future, we will serve him."

Tong Wenyao nodded after hearing what she said, and her face was full of agreement. Seeing this, Tong Wenyao was very upset. She was just trying to comfort her second brother and stop him from getting stuck in a dead end.

After waiting at the door for another hour, my second uncle and Chief Jiang came out. "This is Chief Wu of Changjiang Village. He will lead you back to the village and settle you down."

"Village Chief Wu, Tong Hong." Wu Qing glanced at them. This majesty was not possessed by ordinary refugees. He had just seen that Chief Jiang was quite polite to them, so he smiled at Tong Hong and said, "Brother Hong, can we have a drink when we get there?"

Jiang Zhubu took a look at the weather and interrupted them, "Well, it's getting dark soon, you should hurry back to the village and settle down."

"Your Excellency is right..." Village Chief Wu echoed.

So, the Tong family got on the ox cart of Village Chief Wu, and the group set off for Changjiang Village in a mighty procession. On the way, Tong Wen Yao wanted to inquire about the situation in Changjiang Village, so she deliberately got in front.

"Uncle Wu, how long does it take to get from the county to the village?" Village Chief Wu smiled at the childish voice. "It's not far. We only have to go through five villages to get to the village." Tong Wenyao muttered, "Uncle Wu, how long does that take?" Village Chief Wu drove the ox cart, occasionally shooing away the gadflies. "It's almost there. We'll be there in an hour by ox cart, but it would take two hours to walk."

Tong Wenyao thought to herself, "It's amazing how long it takes." But then she remembered this was ancient times, and she felt okay; it wasn't that far. "Uncle Wu, why are you picking people up from the county? They should be in town," Uncle Wu said with a grin. "That's because the town is far from our village. If we went to town, it would take two hours by oxcart. But it only takes us an hour to get to the county. So, the new county magistrate thought it was too much trouble for us to go to town, so he allowed our five villages to come to the county."

Aunt Cui nodded after hearing this. "That's right. Of course it's more convenient to go to the place that's closer!" Village Chief Wu agreed repeatedly. "That's right. Most villagers go to the county."

As they talked like this, they soon arrived at Changjiang Village. Tong Wen Yao saw that the house at the entrance of the village was built with blue bricks and tiles. There were a few other houses in the village that were also built with blue bricks, but most of them were thatched houses.

"There are only three families in our village who can afford to build houses with blue bricks: mine, the scholar's family, and the escort. The others have a hard time. You arrived quite late today, so I'll take you to the escort Wu Guang's house for the night. Tomorrow I'll show you a house to stay in temporarily. If you're exiled here and want land, you'll have to clear it. Once you've built your house in the next few days, you can move in."

Second Uncle nodded and said, "I'm sorry to bother you today."

It was already dark. Village Chief Wu held up a torch and knocked on Wu Guang's door. After a while, a voice came from inside, "Who is it?"

"Nephew Wu, it's me." The door creaked, and a burly man with thick arms and a full beard emerged. "Uncle Qing, why are you here at this hour?" As he spoke, his eyes also caught the people behind him.

"These are exiles. Your family is big, so you can settle them down for a day. Tomorrow I will take them to the thatched cottage at the back of the village to settle down."

Seeing Wu Guang hesitate, Village Chief Wu said again, "You know that tigress in my family. I'm afraid they were driven out before they even entered the house. So, isn't this because I thought of you being a righteous person?"

Wu Guang saw that there were children in the crowd, and thinking of his own sister who was missing, he couldn't help but say something harsh, "Okay, let them stay for one night."

After opening the door, the village chief led them in. "You guys rest here tonight. I'll be back soon." The second uncle clasped his fists towards Village Chief Wu and said, "Thank you, Village Chief."

Before leaving, Village Chief Wu patted his second uncle on the shoulder and said, "Alas, you have suffered a lot. Go to bed early tonight." He heard the adults reading the imperial edict when he entered the city. At that time, he was outside the crowd and could not see it clearly. It was not until he saw the yellow satin sticking out of their packages when he was riding in the carriage that he thought of them at the city gate. He did not expect that the once popular Tong family would be exiled. He could not help but sigh.